When EA Sports and FIFA went their separate ways in 2023, gamers immediately began to speculate what the next game carrying the FIFA name would look like – and on the evidence of FIFA World Cup Launch Edition, which you can now play on Netflix, FC 26 has absolutely nothing to worry about.
To be fair to FIFA, the game is incredibly easy to play. If you’ve got a Netflix account you can get it up and running on your TV or laptop in a couple of minutes; you just need to download the Netflix Controller app to your phone and you’re good to go.
The game only has three modes: Kick-Off for one-off exhibition matches; Tournament, which lets you play through a full World Cup finals as one of the 48 qualified teams; and Penalty Shootout, which does exactly what it says on the tin. That ‘Launch Edition’ suffix suggests there might be more on the way eventually, but for now, that’s your lot.
Early warning signs
The benefits of that FIFA licence are immediately obvious. The line-up graphics include real photos of the players, all the official kits have been recreated, and every stadium is present and correct. On commentary you get FIFA alumni Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, which is probably the first warning sign.
The generic duo were axed from EA’s series almost a decade ago, but much of FIFA World Cup Launch Edition feels even more dated than that.
Each Tournament match you play begins with a fairly detailed pre-amble from Tyldesley. The veteran commentator has plenty to say about each host city and stadium, and he nicely outlines the qualifying campaigns and recent World Cup history of the two teams, but play just a handful of games and you’ll hear the same phrases over and over again.
Lines of commentary are sometimes even repeated twice in a row, and the names of the teams were clearly recorded separately and inserted afterwards, which is intensely nostalgic for anyone who played football games in the ‘90s, but not great for one released in 2026.
On multiple occasions, Tyldesley had embarked on one of his scene-setting monologues when a goal was scored, but he was so caught up in detailing the team’s pedigree that he failed to respond until long after the game had kicked off again, doing so as excitedly as if the goal had only just gone in.
Using your phone to navigate the fairly basic menus is slick, but if you’ve never played a game using a touchscreen instead of an actual gamepad (which isn’t supported here), it might take a while to get the hang of.
The controls are simple enough though. The left-hand side of the screen controls movement, while tapping, swiping and holding the right-hand side allows you to pass, shoot, tackle and sprint. At least, that’s the idea – there’s often a general sense of disconnection between what you’re doing with your hands and what happens on the pitch, particularly when it comes to defending.
On the default difficulty setting it’s not a major hindrance; the AI-controlled opposition isn’t proficient enough to cause you any real problems. But winning every game comfortably is no fun.
Take the difficulty up a notch and even with an England side packed with midfielders, gaps the size of the Grand Canyon would often appear on the pitch. Defenders tend to have all the urgency of a glacier, tackling is vague and imprecise, and the game frequently changes the player you’re controlling at the worst possible time, allowing opposition attackers to saunter through and take a free shot on goal. Considering attempts from outside the box seem to go in about 90% of the time, that’s a fairly major problem.
It feels a bit better if you get the ball at your feet and run at the opposing defence. The touchscreen means you can make some fairly exact adjustments with your left thumb to scamper down the touchline, but often the players move with all the agility and grace of a paddle steamer. Even when you hold the screen to sprint, you have to wait two to three business days for the player to pick up the pace.
Then there are the graphical glitches. The very first goal I scored in the game saw the ball go right through the back of the net; players sometimes just skate across the turf without moving their legs; and even when they do work the animations make even a 20-year-old Pro Evo game look cutting edge.
To be fair, the big-name players are generally recognisable, although it does look like Instagram’s Badly Drawn Footballers was responsible for drawing their faces. This game’s version of Harry Kane wouldn’t get much work as a lookalike, but I do like how much Anthony Gordon looks like Rambo.
This game’s version of Harry Kane wouldn’t get much work as a lookalike, but I do like how much Anthony Gordon looks like Rambo.
It’s all just so rough around the edges, with each half ending incredibly abruptly, sometimes even as a goal-bound shot is about to cross the line. Fortunately, though, there are no hydration breaks. You’d think FIFA would insist on including them in order to shoehorn in a few adverts.
I’m not hugely surprised that FIFA World Cup Launch Edition is so underwhelming. It is, after all, a free-to-play game on Netflix, not a big-budget alternative to FC 26, but it’s still disappointing.
The conscious uncoupling that occurred between EA and FIFA should have presented football’s all-powerful governing body with an opportunity to go away and, with the huge resources it has at its disposal, fund the creation of a game worthy of the World Cup name.
Instead we have a half-arsed game that plays like something that was released more than two decades ago. Perhaps that’s why the soundtrack includes Blur’s Song 2, which famously featured on FIFA ‘98, and should act here as a warning to anyone expecting something more modern than that.
